---
title: "My lantern's burning better and better," said he presently, but the… — The Book of Dragons · tree and pragmatics
description: "My lantern's burning better and better," said he presently, but the next minute he saw that all the light did not come from his lantern. Who acts: lantern, next minute, light. A sentence of «The Book of Dragons» by E. Nesbit, Kind Little Edmund], with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every
---

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# The Book of Dragons, Kind Little Edmund\], sentence 41

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"My lantern's burning better and better," said he presently, but the next minute he saw that all the light did not come from his lantern.

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**Who acts:** lantern, next minute, light · **What happens:** burn, say, see, not come · **To what, where:** lantern · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «The Book of Dragons» by E. Nesbit, Kind Little Edmund\]. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (lantern, next minute, light), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

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**Parsed by Mova, not checked by a teacher.** This tree is Mova's own parse (the `en` model, on the CPU, when the site is built); it may be wrong.

## The tree {#tree}

```conllu
# sent_id = book:pg23661:14:41
# text = "My lantern's burning better and better," said he presently, but the next minute he saw that all the light did not come from his lantern.
1	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	5	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	My	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	3	nmod:poss	_	_
3	lantern	lantern	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	's	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
5	burning	burn	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	11	ccomp	_	_
6	better	good	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	5	xcomp	_	_
7	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	8	cc	_	_
8	better	good	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	6	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	5	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	5	punct	_	_
11	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
12	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	13	nsubj	_	_
13	presently	presently	ADV	RB	_	11	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	20	punct	_	_
15	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	20	cc	_	_
16	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
17	next	next	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	18	amod	_	_
18	minute	minute	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	nsubj	_	_
19	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	20	nsubj	_	_
20	saw	see	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	11	parataxis	_	_
21	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	27	mark	_	_
22	all	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	24	det:predet	_	_
23	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	24	det	_	_
24	light	light	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	nsubj	_	_
25	did	do	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	27	aux	_	_
26	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	27	advmod	_	_
27	come	come	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	20	ccomp	_	_
28	from	from	ADP	IN	_	30	case	_	_
29	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	30	nmod:poss	_	_
30	lantern	lantern	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	11	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **burn** *in a quote* | present · progressive | My lantern |  |  |  |  | good *property* | vn light\_emission-43.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **say** *speech: assert* | past |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 3 | **see** | past | the next minute |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus |
| 4 | **not** **come** | past · do-support | all light |  |  | light's lantern |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme from lantern=Initial\_Location |

<!-- .note -->
One row per clause the reader finds. «not said here»: a role filled from the clause above. «roles by»: a VerbNet class and frame when one fits the verb, else the reader's rules on the tree.

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**Text:** «The Book of Dragons» by E. Nesbit, Project Gutenberg book 23661 (public domain in the USA). **Tree:** Mova's own parse, Elamur Cosmic License. **Frames:** Mova's frames reader (`prag`), the chapter read in order.

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